This never-before-imaged area of Mercury’s surface near its north pole was taken from an altitude of 280 miles during the spacecraft’s first orbit with the camera in operation. The area is covered in secondary craters made by an impact outside of the field of view. Some of the secondary craters are oriented in chain-like formations.

Bright rays, consisting of impact ejecta and secondary craters, spread across and radiate from Debussy crater, located at the top. The image, acquired Tuesday during the first orbit for which the camera was imaging, shows just a small portion of Debussy’s large system of rays in greater detail than ever previously seen.

The wide-angle camera is not a typical color camera. It can image in 11 colors, ranging from visible through near-infrared. In this image the 1000 nm, 750 nm, and 430 nm filters are displayed in red, green, and blue, respectively. Several craters appear to have excavated compositionally distinct low-reflectance (brown-blue in this color scheme) material, and the bright rays of Hokusai crater to the north cross the image.

This is just the beginning for the Messenger probe, which will acquire 75,000 images of our solar system’s smallest planet during the next year.

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This is just the beginning for the Messenger probe, which will acquire 75,000 images of our solar system’s smallest planet during the next year.

And that is the least important part of what Messenger will do. The laser altimeter will provide us with a detailed look at Mercury’s topography, which will tell us a lot about cratering (and explosions, which follow the same scaling laws). The Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer will give us details about Mercury’s surface minerals (as will the Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer), which will tell us about Earth’s early history. The X-ray spectrometer will help us understand how solar emissions affect the surface (and may help reduce damage done to communications networks by “space weather”). And the radio transmissions will be used to map out Mercury’s gravity field so that we can learn more about its interior (and ours).

This is as exciting as Viking or Magellan. (Yes, I have a bias for terrestrial planets; after all, I live on one!)

I’d be curious to know how ‘Messenger’ (and its cameras and other sensors) avoid getting fried by the intense solar radiation (in all spectra)! The surface temperature of Mercury is 427°C on the hot side (source)—whew!

How are these fancy pictures stopping the illegals from crossing the border, taking our jobs and bringing their drugs into our country!?—madcougar

This article is about adult topics, not some xenophobic’s paranoid delusions.

Xenophobic? That’s a big word like “watermelon!” You may think you’re so smart with your East Coast liberal education, but it’s REAL Americans like me who are going to keep you fruity liberals from being overun by immigrants and Al Gore!

But to stay on topic… I too wonder what kind of heat shields this fancy gizmo has that it isn’t affected by the sun’s rays.

That first image reminds me of back when I was young and sometimes got a small package of mercury from the dentist to play with. If you spilled the contents on a flat surface it looked a lot like this image.

Knowing now the health effects of direct contact with mercury makes my knees a little weak.

How are these fancy pictures stopping the illegals from crossing the border, taking our jobs and bringing their drugs into our country!?

They should point this gizmo at the border to stop the invasion! No wonder we are having this budget crisis!

Posted by: madcougar at March 30, 2011 02:58 PM

They (Homeland Security and ICE) tried a high tech, cameras, sensors, etc., virtual fence on the boarder at a sunk cost of over a billion $s. Last I heard it was deemed a failure. Further efforts were ended and the money spent was considered lost. Maybe NASA could do better?

But on that Drug problem. The best answer is for Americans to stop using the stuff.

But to stay on topic… I too wonder what kind of heat shields this fancy gizmo has that it isn’t affected by the sun’s rays.

Posted by: madcougar at March 30, 2011 04:29 PM

The same kind the Republicans use to shield themselves from facts and any concern about the problems of those less fortunate.

Posted by: craig at March 30, 2011 05:09 PM

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Hey, nice troll, buddy!

It’d be nice if you could comment on the pictures… and the rest of you who completely missed the sarcasm and went into a burning ball of frenzied craziness. Geez. I’m as political as the next guy, but this was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY.

I was really hoping for lakes of pure lead, but it looks like a superheated Moon. While I marvel at the clarity of the pictures, the impressionable teenager of the 1970s is disappointed Larry Niven’s vision of Mercury was wrong.

But to stay on topic… I too wonder what kind of heat shields this fancy gizmo has that it isn’t affected by the sun’s rays.

Posted by: madcougar at March 30, 2011 04:29 PM

The same kind the Republicans use to shield themselves from facts and any concern about the problems of those less fortunate.

Posted by: craig at March 30, 2011 05:09 PM

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Perhaps, you should read Thomas Sowell’s book called Black Rednecks & White Liberals. Well, pretty much all of his book so you’d have a little bit more common sense which is sorely lacking in Democrats….

Sincere apologies to you Eric and to anyone else who is interested in the Sci Blog. Sometimes it’s just fun to get the first insane entry into the blog. Why should the right wing folks have all the fun?